Film Reviews by GI

This mystery drama with subtle hints of horror and a surreal and mystical vibe has garnered much admiration over the years despite a controversial ending. It remains a key Australian film and one that hooks you and keeps you attentive despite its quite languid narrative. The opening screen information strongly suggests the film is based on real events when, in fact, it's an adaptation of a novel and completely fictional and even knowing this the plot arc leaves you with an unsettled feeling that this may have actually happened. Part of the reason for that is the film asks more questions than it answers and it captures that aura of strange magic that oozes from the land and in particular the 'hanging rock' of the title. It's also an immensely beautiful film both visually and sensually, with a never revealed sexual tension running through it. The story is set in 1900 at a prestigious girls preparatory school. One valentines day a group of the girls are allowed to go on a picnic into the bush at Hanging Rock accompanied by two of their teachers. When three of the girls and a teacher mysteriously disappear no trace of them can be found despite a large scale search. The effects of the mystery has an effect on the owner and head teacher, Miss Appleyard (Rachel Roberts), the other girls and teachers and a local man (Dominic Guard) who is determined to find the missing party. The sensual beauty and enigmatic atmosphere of the film are enhanced by the beautiful soundtrack and the soft focus cinematography. This is rather a clever and mystifying film that is worth viewing a few times to try and unravel the imagery and riddles that the narrative sets for the viewer. It's unusual but a delight.

You've got to give it to Tom Cruise, seven films in and he's not letting up on the forever entertaining Mission Impossible franchise. He's effectively injecting the action genre with added vitamins on every outing. Although I liked the previous film better than this one that is being a bit picky because this is a rollicking rollercoaster ride and very enjoyable. The stunts outweigh anything else in this including plot and character and aficionados will spot quite a few 007 homages (or copycat depending on you viewpoint) set pieces but it can be forgiven for the sheer audacity of the action because this just spectacular cinema at it's best. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is still an IMF agent although has a reputation for going rogue a little too much (an issue that has him being pursued by his own side for much of the film) and is bought in by his old boss (and nemesis) (Henry Czerny) to recover a mysterious key that is vital to control a new super weapon that has artificial intelligence - neatly topical idea there - and he brings in his old team to help (Ving Rhames & Simon Pegg). It's all a hi octane affair from the very start and Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby return to the series in key roles and Hayley Atwell co-stars as a skilled thief who gets embroiled in the hunt for the key. As this is Part 1 we're due another instalment soonish and the set up is for a conclusion to the entire series but who knows ol' Tom may fight on beyond Part 2. It's all daft and exciting at the sametime but if you're a fan you won't be disappointed. It's definitely one to see on the big screen if you can.

Famed for his big plot twists (many of which are fairly predictable) this new film from director M. Night Shyamalan goes for a more slow burning mystery thriller vibe that at times makes the film feel ponderous and at the same time quite intriguing. A stressed out family of husband (Gael García Bernal), wife (Vicky Krieps) and their 11 year old daughter and 6 year old son arrive at a luxury resort for a well deserved holiday. The hotel driver (played by Shyamalan hilmself) takes them, along with some other guests, to a secluded beach for the day. Quickly the guests all sense something is wrong and they find they begin aging one year for every thirty minutes and seemingly are unable to escape the beach. The narrative focuses on the few characters trapped many of whom have some serious physical and mental conditions. For much of the film, which feels too long, they try to work out what's happening and how to escape. The film is light on effects and there aren't any real shocks or real plot twists although there is a rather weak explanation of sorts at the end. This is a film that is a mix of silliness and yet a serious attempt to look at mortality and the issue of aging. It's all vaguely unsatisfying while bizarrely watchable.

A light comedy of manners with a clash of cultures theme that has a warmth and gentleness making for a quite lovely film. Starring Lesley Manville, another British treasure and superb actress, who gives the titular role just the right touches throughout the entire film. Set in the late 1950s and Mrs Harris is a war widow who makes her living as a cleaner for hire. She dreams of one day owning a Christian Dior dress to wear to the local hop and she diligently saves her money where she can sometimes with a surprise small football pools win and sometimes losing on a silly bet at the greyhound racing. Eventually she scrapes together enough and heads off to Paris where she is a fish out of water. The script is gentle enough not to try and wring every joke out of the language barriers or the cultural shocks between the French and English that Mrs Harris encounters. The film is more concerned with showing how Mrs Harris' natural warmth, innocence and kindness wins people over even though she can be roused to action if the situation demands. Her main adversary in the story is Claudine (Isabelle Huppert), the Dior manager who sees her as a threat to their rich clients but even this tetchy relationship is not the focus of the narrative which remains one about kindness and humanity. This is just a pleasant almost Disneyesque film that leaves you smiling at the end and it's worth an evenings viewing.

This is a fun filled medieval romp that delivers like a rock music video. It's really funny and original and it's clear everyone was having a great time making it. It's a film that is difficult to classify because on the surface it's an historical love story with great action, it's a hilarious comedy and it has a modern soundtrack that is often diegetic forming part of the film's world. The use of Queen's, We Are The Champions for example is sung by the characters. The use of modern music simulates the sheer power that music actually had in the times of the film's setting. Overall this is a romantic adventure comedy where a humble commoner played by Heath Ledger pretends to be knight so he can compete in jousts and by winning ensure he his two comrades can eat. They are assisted by a gambling addicted Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) who forges all the necessary papers. Unfortunately an enemy determined to expose him comes on the scene played with relish and dark malignancy by Rufus Sewell. Both he and the hero covet a beautiful maiden and fight for her hand. It's a classic Robin Hood/Sheriff Of Nottingham type scenario, all heroism, witty jokes, slapstick and brilliant slow motion jousts. Mark Addy and James Purefoy support. Overall it is just a fantastically entertaining film.

This has to be David Cronenberg's most impenetrable film, a surreal, mainly bizarre part biographical and part phantasmagorical adaptation of the life and work of William S. Burroughs. Films that delve into writer's and their creative processes can be dull and maudlin affairs and, for me, this was no exception. An hallucinatory journey through the warped and drug addled mind of an author, Bill Lee (Peter Weller), who because of writers block has taken up a job as a bug exterminator in 1950s New York. He and his wife, Joan (Judy Davis) have become hooked on the bug powder he uses to kill cockroaches and after Bill stupidly kills her he finds himself recruited by a strange insect like creature and sent to a North African country where he encounters talking typewriters, weird insect like creatures and.....God knows what's going on? Cronenberg dishes out scenes that gross you out while there's lots of inane talking in a narrative that made little sense. Some of the events are based on real ones in Burrough's life but this film is neither biopic or fantasy story and consequently it's rendered meaningless. I'm sure this has it's fans but it's just a pretentious load of twaddle as far as I'm concerned.

From the same filmmakers that made Spitfire (2018) this is a documentary that looks at the role of the British heavy bomber during the Second World War. It is poignant to watch the surviving crew members , now all in their 90s, recount their experiences on nightmarish raids. If you're interested in military history this is a competent and interesting film that is really a short history of Bomber Command and the various famous raids such as the Dambusters one and the infamous Dresden raid of 1945. Narrated by Charles Dance it is mostly a well balanced story although there is only one account from a German civilian who witnessed the Dresden raid. Overall though this is worthy of watching if you have that interest.

Director Roland Emmerich, a past master at the big budget sci-fi/disaster film has essentially pastiched his own films here and shamelessly stolen from a host of far better and more original films. You can spot a good number in here from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Armageddon, Independence Day, Matrix Revolutions, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, Star Trek: The Motion Picture etc etc - the list goes on. Unfortunately, despite the occasional visually spectacular scene none of it can remotely be viewed with any sense of seriousness as we watch the world get destroyed by floods, asteroids and all sorts of debris is constantly flying around as some intrepid astronauts head off to save the day. In short the moon begins to change its orbit and will eventually crash into the Earth killing everybody. Disgraced astronaut Brian (Patrick Wilson) (there's prologue that explains the disgrace), his old partner and NASA bigwig Jocinda (Halle Berry) and a conspiracy nut (John Bradley), who believes the moon is actually an alien structure (and guess what?), grab a museum space shuttle and head off to save the day. Back home their families face a survival adventure or two. The script is dire, with poor use of comedy especially Bradley as the weirdo Brit and I hope he's not doomed to playing nerdy geeks all his career, played against the full on CGi disaster scenes. It's pure hokum, with a lot of money behind it resulting in a pretty lame and ultimately silly film.

In the Director's Cut form this is a marvellous historical epic set in during The Crusades of the twelfth century and the embittered religious struggle for Jerusalem. Director Ridley Scott disowned the incoherent theatrical version after it had been cut by a nervous studio. Their mistake because that release garnered nothing but bad reviews and a confused public. Back in it's fully restored length under Scott's supervision this is simply a highly impressive film and one of his more underrated movies. Orlando Bloom excels as the heroic Balian a humble blacksmith who rises to be the defender of Jerusalem. Supported by a wonderful cast that includes Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis (one of the more interesting characters in the longer version), Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton and Liam Neeson amongst others. The battle scenes are extraordinary and rival those in The Lord of The Rings trilogy and even TVs Game of Thrones and the narrative is neatly balanced in its judgement of the two warring religions. Like all of Scott's epic films this is visually impressive, he's able to fully recreate the world in which his narratives play out be they historical to futuristic to alien , and here he shows a grimy, yet somehow tranquil European landscape juxtapositioned with a hot, desert lands of the Middle East. This is a film about heroism, honour and love. A film worthy of rediscovery.

Director Matthew Vaughn and writer Jane Goldman continue their unique deconstruction of comic books and their film adaptations here. In Kick-Ass (2010) it was the superhero and in this film it's the secret agent. Essentially this is a spoof that is very much like the James Bond films in particular the last three made by Sean Connery. All the Bondian ingredients can be found here in a very funny, bloody and tongue-in-cheek romp. London street punk 'Eggsy' (Taron Egerton) is somewhat surprised when he's recruited by Harry (Colin Firth) for a secret covert agency known as the Kingsmen, whose HQ is hidden behind a Savile Row Tailors shop. Being working class he's unprepared for the snobbery but relishes the detailed training which comes in very useful when he has to face off against internet entrepreneur and the film's megalomaniac, Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) who has a devious plan to reduce the world's population. This cues great stunts, action, bloody violence and even some kinky sex! It's all great fun and there's a superb support cast (Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Mark Hamill, Sofia Boutella and others) and soundtrack. The film spawned a sequel and a prequel which lacked the originality of this. If you've never seen it then it's sheer entertainment and worth your time.

An exquisite little film, sad yet heart warming and starring Bill Nighy, one of the best British actors of his generation. This is an adaptation of an Akira Kurosawa film, Ikiru (1952), and here set in London in the 1950s. A time of class, bowler hats and social manners that one can best describe as establishment fuddy-duddiness. Nighy is Mr William, a dull, bureaucrat who runs the small public works department of the London Council and has done all his adult life. He's a widower and estranged from his son and daughter in law but his life takes a sudden turn with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Shocked he slowly begins to realise what a waste his life has been and sets out to change it in a relatively small but quite meaningful way. The narrative structure here is interesting and Nighy who carries the film so well is filmed as a lonely presence, almost ghostlike as he goes about his daily life. His work colleague, the ever cheery Miss Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), is a contrast in whom he becomes infatuated albeit platonically and much to the horror of his family. Tom Burke has a small role as a bohemian writer who shows Mr Willliams a different side of life on one evening, which sets him on a path of personal redemption. This is a film about life and death and asks the inevitable question that little acts of kindness can be a huge achievement and shouldn't be left until death looms. A marvellous film and one to check out.

A good solid submarine adventure/disaster film supposedly based on real events but obviously given the Hollywood treatment. Set in 1961 at the height of Cold War tensions between the USSR and the USA and follows the maiden voyage of the first soviet nuclear submarine. The crew have nicknamed it The Widowmaker as there have been many deaths during its construction and the original skipper (Liam Neeson) is made second in command under disciplinarian Captain Vostrikov (Harrison Ford). The submarine is clearly a bit sub standard but off they go anyway and of course disaster strikes when the nuclear reactor springs a leak and death and destruction looms. The script builds a tension between the two leads which is allegedly completely fictional but it results in a film that allows the drama below decks to be the main focus. There's the inevitable political issues on offer and apart from some occasional dodgy, and unnecessary, accents from the two stars it's all neatly entertaining and at times very interesting. As submarine dramas go it's not as good as others, The Hunt For Red October (1990) for example, but it's well worth the two hours or so of its runtime.

This is possibly Ealing Studios most famous film and is a critics favourite even to the point of being described as 'the perfect film'. The Ealing Comedies are little treasures that do not get seen nearly enough by modern audiences and, as this one, they reveal a huge amount about Britain and in particular the class issues that drove society arguably still to this day! Set in the late 1800s the story is narrated by Louis (Dennis Price), the 10th Duke of Chalfont, who is in prison awaiting execution. His mother was a member of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family but because she married for love was cast out and Louis grew up in poverty. As a young man he loses the love of his life to a more wealthy man and driven by hatred he vows to kill all the D'Ascoyne heirs leaving him to inherit the family title. The film charts his endeavours in this and it is, of course, famous for the eight heir victims all being played by Alec Guinness, who excels at the various eccentricities of the family. Whilst this is a mild comedy of manners rather than an out and out comedy like the Carry Ons it is the best example of condemnation of the class divided society and the ridiculous manners and obsession with wealth and breeding that puts society's acceptance over happiness. Wonderfully scripted and directed this is one of the finest of British films from the heyday of Britain's film industry and it is certainly a film every film fan should make sure they see.

A low key, slow paced drama with a mystery in the narrative that allows the journey of self discovery of a dull chap to occur. Timothy Spall, one of Britain's acting treasures, plays Peter, a bachelor who is forced to retire from the Manchester bank he has worked at all his life. His daily routines are shattered when he finds nothing to do so he decides to visit his brother who lives in Benidorm. Peter views life through the prism of his amateur meteorology passion, taking endless pictures of clouds, but he is unprepared when he finds his brother has disappeared. The film is then mainly concerned with Peter bumbling around the bright night streets of this tourist town with the director highlighting the crass nature of tourism and the mainly British luddites that frequent it. Peter is aided in his quest by a love interest played impeccably by Sarita Choudhury. Spall is however as good as always in this character piece. It's a quirky little film that won't be for everyone but it's worth checking out.

An erotically charged murder mystery with Meg Ryan in a risqué performance that goes against her normal screen persona. She is very good too as the sexually repressed teacher who starts an affair with the detective (Mark Ruffalo) who is investigating the series of murders of young women in the area. As their passionate relationship develops a casual lie soon leads her to suspect her now lover maybe the killer. There's a dark edge to this thriller and the narrative follows a path that one minute you think you know the killer and the next you change your mind. There are clues but really that is a superficial aspect to this underrated film. The really interesting aspect is the emotional journey that Ryan's character has to follow and how repressed memories of her parents, her protectiveness towards her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her past relationship with the weird hospital worker (Kevin Bacon) all intertwine with her reasons for the affair she risks with the detective even as she begins to think he maybe the murderer. It's a superb script, brilliantly directed by Jane Campion and a film that deserves rediscovery.